In my opinion, Col. Ralph Peters has been offering the best summaries of the Russia-Georgia situation and continued to do so yesterday in the NY Post. As much as I agree with Col Peters that Russia is the clear winner, it is important to note that there is a silver lining to this catastrophe in the Caucasus.

If Putin had waited until after the 2008 Presidential Election, Obama’s chances would have been much greater and a much weakened U.S. would have worked to Russia’s advantage as they continue to reign in their democracy loving neighbors. Lucky for the West and for McCain, Putin and Russia will be major issues in the campaign from here on out–creating a leadership vacuum tailor-made for McCain.

Russia won. Diplomacy failed. No state or alliance will reverse the decision. When President Bush spoke out strongly on Friday, Moscow ignored him: Words mean nothing to Prime Minister Putin, a man who regards all compromise as weakness.

According to an article in New Scientist (see video embed below), a robot has been developed which is controlled by a mass of disembodied rat neurons. The brain cells (about 300,000 of them) live (“IT’S ALIVE!!!”)…

inside a small pot containing a pink broth of nutrients and antibiotics. Inside that pot…neurons have made – and continue to make – connections with each other.

As they do so, the disembodied neurons are communicating, sending electrical signals to one another just as they do in a living creature. We know this because the network of neurons is connected at the base of the pot to 80 electrodes, and the voltages sparked by the neurons are displayed on a computer screen.

[…]

To create the “brain”, the neural cortex from a rat fetus is surgically removed and disassociating enzymes applied to it to disconnect the neurons from each other. The researchers then deposit a slim layer of these isolated neurons into a nutrient-rich medium on a bank of electrodes, where they start reconnecting. They do this by growing projections that reach out to touch the neighbouring neurons. “It’s just fascinating that they do this,” says Steve Potter of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who pioneered the field of neurally controlled animats. “Clearly brain cells have evolved to reconnect under almost any circumstance that doesn’t kill them.”

[…]

Like a creature with no limbs or senses, the cut-down brain is simply bursting out of boredom, says Whalley. “With no structured sensory input the hypothesis is that you get arbitrarily random and quite often detrimental activity because all these cells are asking for some kind of direction.”

Russia is really on a roll! This excerpt and link from AP via the J Post…

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland’s agreement to accept a US missile defense battery exposes the country to attack, pointing out that Russian military doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons in such a situation, the Interfax news agency reported.

The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.

Poland and the United States on Thursday signed a deal for Poland to accept a missile defense battery as part of a system the United States says is aimed at blocking attacks by rogue nations but that Moscow claims is aimed at weakening Russia.

“Poland, by deploying [the system] is exposing itself to a strike – 100 percent,” Nogovitsyn, the deputy chief of staff, was quoted as saying.